A rapidly increasing segment of modern vehicles, such as passenger cars, buses, trains, boats and aircraft, are being equipped with integrated wireless communications systems. Integrated wireless communications solutions enables vehicles to have embedded systems with access to mobile services, such as navigation services, cellular phone services, emergency help/assistance, traffic information, directory assistance services, Internet web access for web browsing and email, remote car diagnostics, anti-theft tracking, in-car office, and other analog or digital voice and data communications applications.
Such embedded communications devices, contained within the vehicle communication unit and/or mobile station, may require parameter updates to enhance services. The complexity and effort of provisioning mobile stations and activating users can be greatly reduced using wireless network initiated over-the-air service provisioning (OTASP) mechanisms. Wireless carriers sometimes have the need to periodically update code division multiple access (CDMA) parameters stored in the mobile stations of their user community. (A mobile station is a station, fixed or mobile, which serves as the end user's wireless communication link with the base station. Mobile stations include, for example, portable units, such as, hand-held personal units and units installed in vehicles.) The capability to update CDMA parameters over-the-air (over-the-air parameter administration (OTAPA)) reduces the complexity of having mobile stations brought into service centers for reprogramming. Thus, this capability enhances customer satisfaction by maintaining mobile station parameters and operations with only minor impact to the user. In other words, this reduces the need to visit a dealer, service depot, or other third party.
Recent advances in the wireless technologies industry have addressed the need for a comprehensive and extensible system for over-the-air mobile station provisioning and parameter administration with the establishment of a configuration management service, the internet protocol based over-the-air activation (IOTA) standard. (This standard creates a system capable of delivering provisioning information as well as customer care to subscribers of wireless telephones). The wireless carrier network has the ability to transmit to a mobile station the desired data or other parameters over the air interface. The wireless carrier network also has the ability to receive update requests from a mobile station. Seemingly, it is possible for a mobile station to receive or initiate multiple parameter update requests in succession from a wireless carrier before completing an update request. It would be beneficial for the vehicle communication system to be able to store any subsequent update service parameters until a pending update request has been completed.
Thus, there is a significant need for a method and system for storing parameter updates from wireless communication systems to vehicle communication systems, until the requests have been serviced.